and i would hope the white house would get serious as well. paul. [ inaudible question ] meeting with secretary geithner or your phone call with president obama last night. could you tell us something about that phone call? >> well, we had a very nice conversation last night. it was direct. and straight forward. but this assessment i give you today would be a product of both of those conversations. >> how much would you be open to the idea of discretionary spending cuts as part of a down payment to get to a longer-range solution on entitlements and tax reform? >> there are a lot of options on the table, including that one. >> mr. speaker, before the election, you were asked whether if it obama won taxes would have to go up. and you sounded like you opposed that. now you're acknowledging that they will. >> the day after the election, i came here and made it clear that republicans would put revenue on the table. as a way to begin to move the process to get this resolved. >> right. so my question is, what message do you have for people who look a